Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/34

26 façade, towards the Old town is particularly rich in ornamentation. The statues of the patron saints of the country and of its kings, Charles IV. and Wenceslaus IV. the builders of this tower in the XIVth. and XVth. century, numerous gothic ornaments, bizarre supporters, knobs and finely formed phials and chaptrels, and the coats of arms of all the countries which belonged to the Bohemian crown under the reign of the Luxemburg dynasty adorn the tower all united in a beautiful whole like a poem in stone. The inside painted ornaments of the tower are are also interesting samples of Bohemian painting in the beginning of the XVth. century. That the building was finished under Wenceslaus IV., is proved beyond doubt by the emblem of a halcyon-bird within a wreath, the symbol of bath-keepers, which recurs five times amongst the ornaments together with the figure of a girl in white representing Susan a bathkeeper’s daughter (the sweetheart of Wenceslaus IV.)

To the left of the tower far down below the arches of the bridge rises from the ruffled surface of the mill stream the very original and characteristic group of buildings of the Old-town-mill and waterworks, the latter with a slender gothic water tower the original of which was founded as far back as 1489 but was burned down and rebuilt several times, the last time in 1884. The new water tower and works of the town, were built in 1883 and 1884 by J. Wiehl the well known Bohemian renaissance architect, and are ornamented by beautiful sgrafitti the subject of which is the „defence of the old town by Bohemian students against the Swedes in 1648“, which took place on the Charles’ bridge. The pictures are excellent works by prof. Frt. Ženíšek, an artist who cultivates the purely Bohemian style.

We have now actually stepped upon the famous Charles’ bridge, one of the most remarkable structures in Europe not only on account of its antiquity but also on account of its design and artistic character, and above all because of its beautiful situation.

Charles IV. founded it in 1357 not far from the site of a former bridge which was also built of stone by Judith, the queen of Wladislaus II. as far back as 1167 but had